Woman who sexually abused 4-year-old girl gets probation

MONTICELLO — A Sullivan County judge has sentenced a 42-year-old Monticello woman to probation for sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl.

Victor Whitman

MONTICELLO — A Sullivan County judge has sentenced a 42-year-old Monticello woman to probation for sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl.

Judge Frank LaBuda chose on Wednesday to give Kimberly Shaw 10 years probation over the objections of the child's case worker and prosecutors who asked for prison time.

LaBuda noted Shaw's history of mental illness, and that she'd been sexually abused as a child, later forced into prostitution and had her front teeth knocked out by her now-imprisoned boyfriend.

Shaw was also ordered to register as a sex offender and to refrain from all contact with the victim.

"She's barely functioning as an individual," LaBuda said of Shaw. "I'm not putting her in prison ... It would be an injustice under these circumstances to put her in prison, given the fact that she accepted complete remorse for what she did, she waived every legal right under the Constitution and stands here today in some hopeful stance of recovery."

Shaw previously admitted to abusing the girl and pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse, a felony.

Assistant District Attorney Joey Drillings recommended a sentence of five years in prison, the maximum under an agreed-upon cap. The child's caseworker also read a statement, noting the physical and psychological damage to the girl.

The sentencing guidelines mandate a sentence of two to seven years in prison. A judge can diverge from the mandatory sentence if the judge finds prison may not be necessary.

District Attorney Jim Farrell criticized the decision in a news release.

"I remain dedicated to doing all in my power to hold perpetrators of sexual abuse upon our community's youngest and most vulnerable citizens accountable for their criminal behavior," Farrell said. "I was extremely disappointed in the sentence in this case and I believe that my recommendation of imprisonment was consistent with justice, given the facts and the abuse Shaw perpetrated on this four-year-old child, who will live with the scars of that abuse forever."